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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23486347">Two Paths</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/bearyberry/pseuds/bearyberry'>bearyberry</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Lunar Chronicles - Marissa Meyer</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, cinder and adri have a chat, empress cinder, not fully but a step forward, sorta redemption?, what i was kinda expecting when they were jailed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 08:46:54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,208</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23486347</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/bearyberry/pseuds/bearyberry</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Cinder retires to her rooms for the day and she finds a guest waiting for her</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kai/Linh Cinder</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>44</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Two Paths</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I quite enjoyed writing this so if you wouldn't mind telling me what you think!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The camera cut and Cinder and Kai let their ‘royalty’ faces drop. Cinder turned to look at Kai and smiled. She was always somehow in awe that she’d actually married him. He never failed to make her somewhat giddy and teenager-like. Kai looked over at her and smiled back. </p><p> </p><p>“It's going to be over soon” he told her. </p><p> </p><p>“I know” Cinder said “but after that come all the actual visits and negotiations” </p><p> </p><p>They had just finished filming an announcement on the status of the Luna and Earth relationship, assuring everyone that just because Cinder was no longer queen of Luna, that didn’t mean the alliance was over between the two. </p><p> </p><p>“You should be used to those by now” Kai teased. </p><p> </p><p>“If I haven’t then I can just learn from my teacher” Cinder said, coming closer to Kai. </p><p> </p><p>Kai smiled and kissed her unexpectedly, leaving Cinder giddy. He pulled away and motioned for her to follow him. Cinder obliged and walked with him out of the room. When they left the earshot of those cameramen in the room Kai spoke: </p><p> </p><p>“I know what today is” Cinder turned towards him and frowned. </p><p> </p><p>“What are you talking about?” she asked. </p><p> </p><p>Kai shook his head “You’ve been trying to hide it from me these past three years and when I’ve asked you about it you always say <em> I </em>could do it because as emperor I have a right to do so. But now that you’re empress and you can’t use the excuse of ‘winning over the people' at every chance, even though they loved you from the start, I think you should take your day off” </p><p> </p><p>Cinder stayed quiet and looked away, knowing what Kai was talking about. Kai raised an eyebrow at her silence, which she ignored, not wanting to respond just yet. </p><p> </p><p>“Look Cinder,” Kai stopped walking and looked at her “I know it’s hard and that it sucks, but the only way out is through. You’ve been repressing this part of your life for three years but you need to take time for yourself” </p><p> </p><p>“Once I let my emotions out they won’t stop” Cinder whispered “Whether I can or can’t cry” </p><p> </p><p>Kai’s look softened and he put one hand on her cheek, where he would’ve wiped a tear away had there been one. Cinder took her gaze from the floor and looked at Kai. Seeing him with worry in his eyes broke Cinder’s denial wall down. </p><p> </p><p>“You really know how to break me huh?” </p><p> </p><p>Kai’s eyes softened “You do so much for everyone else you forget about yourself. If I don’t take care of you, no one will” </p><p> </p><p>Cinder nodded and turned away from Kai and started walking towards their rooms, wanting to take off her dress first thing. After years of wearing both lunar and earthen royalty gowns she would’ve thought she’d gotten used to it, but that was not the case. She arrived at the doors that opened up to her and Kai’s rooms and pushed them open. Most would have guards perform such tasks, but Cinder had sent them off on other assignments that required more help than door opening a long time ago. </p><p> </p><p>When she entered, she froze. There were two people in her rooms and neither of them were from the Rampion Crew. She took a second to process who she was seeing, and once she did she straightened her spine and tried to emit as much regalness she could. She crossed her hands in front of her hips, pointedly leaving her cyborg hand on top. </p><p> </p><p>“Your Highness” the guard kneeled. </p><p> </p><p>Cinder nodded once as a form of recognition “What” she said sharply as the guard rose “Is this woman doing in the royal palace <em> in </em> the rooms of the emperor and empress?”</p><p> </p><p>“She came as a guest at the gate and we identified her as Linh Adri, stepmother to the Empress of the Eastern Commonwealth” the guard had a hard time not stuttering. Cinder wasn’t known for her tone or sharp temper, so Cinder’s attitude put him on edge. </p><p> </p><p>“And why did I not receive any form of communication that she was here?” Cinder asked the guard directly, not wanting to look at Adri. </p><p> </p><p>“You and the emperor were occupied and there was no way to send a message through your netscreen” the guard was replying quite well given his nerves. </p><p> </p><p>“You are aware that my netscreen is my brain as, I am sure no one can easily forget, I am cyborg?” </p><p> </p><p>“I apologize Your Highness, please allow me to escort Linh Adri out of the palace”  </p><p> </p><p>“No!” Adri spoke for the first time and Cinder narrowed her eyes at her “Please let me say what I came here to say” </p><p> </p><p>“I don’t have to let you do anything” Cinder said, her tone cold. </p><p> </p><p>“You’ll want to hear this” Adri insisted. </p><p> </p><p>“Ha!” Cinder let out a mocking laugh “I can’t imagine what this may be, but alright Adri, you’ve won yourself your say. You’re dismissed” Cinder directed at the guard. </p><p> </p><p>The two watched him leave and as he closed the door Adri looked back at Cinder. Cinder raised an eyebrow, urging her on. </p><p> </p><p>“I wanted…” Adri trailed off. </p><p> </p><p>Cinder sighed “I can’t believe I’m wasting my time for this. Get out” </p><p> </p><p>“No, please just let me try” Adri said pleadingly. </p><p> </p><p>“I am your empress and you have shown no respect to me” Cinder said, sounding every bit the part of empress even though the words were foreign in her mouth “You have not yet kneeled, you have done nothing but make demands, and I owe you nothing regardless of the fact that I am your empress, so get out!” </p><p> </p><p>Adri was rooted to her place, surprised at Cinder’s outburst. After a few moments she composed herself and spoke again “You owe me everything Cinder! I housed you, and kept you fed and clothed from the moment you arrived at my doorstep-” </p><p> </p><p>She was going to continue, but Cinder didn’t let her “The only reason you kept me was because I could do the work you were so intent on avoiding so you could continue to live! If anything I was the one that fed, housed, and clothed <em> you! </em>”</p><p> </p><p>“You distasteful girl!” Adri spit out “I gave you your life” </p><p> </p><p>Cinder laughed, lacking humor “Is this what you came to say?” she asked “To spew out lies to my face even though I am the most powerful woman in the continent? That’s what you begged me to stay for?” </p><p> </p><p>Something snapped and Adri returned to the state Cinder had seen her in when she entered the room “No” Adri shook her head “I wanted to tell you that I’m missing something in my life” </p><p> </p><p>“You’re bold, Adri” Cinder said slowly “I gave you everything you wanted three years ago when I announced in front of a council of the most powerful people in the world, that you were the owner of a device your husband made. Wealth was everything you seeked for years on end and now you come to me wanting more?” </p><p> </p><p>Adri didn’t look at Cinder, she instead looked at the ground and didn’t speak. Cinder didn’t speak either, Adri was the one who came to Cinder, she was the one who should be doing the talking. </p><p> </p><p>“I’m missing a daughter” Adri whispered after moments of silence. </p><p> </p><p>The mention of Peony rooted Cinder to the spot, had Adri planned this? On the anniversary of Peony's death she came to her to talk about their lost family member? Cinder got out her next words by force “And why have you come to me?” </p><p> </p><p>Again there was a silence “Because after all these years, I still think about her. I think about her, and I think about how she would be on the news with you. In this palace, in a fancy dress, arm in arm with the emperor. And I think that I was wrong to accuse you of not loving her and causing her death” </p><p> </p><p>Cinder was still frozen. Never in a million years had she imagined Adri saying anything near that. Why had she come now? </p><p> </p><p>Adri continued “I wanted to say I’m sorry” </p><p> </p><p>Cinder was confident that Adri had never said those words before, and she was even more confident that Adri hated saying those words to her of all people. </p><p> </p><p>“It’s just that, after Garan died-” </p><p> </p><p>Cinder cut Adri off again “Not that I don’t appreciate the apology, but you hated me even when he was alive. You just used his death as an excuse to finally let your anger down on me-” </p><p> </p><p>“I’m trying to apologize Cinder” </p><p> </p><p>“Your experiences don’t excuse the abusive behavior you made me endure for years” </p><p> </p><p>“You don’t know what’s like to lose a husband” Adri shook her head “You don’t know the emptiness that it leaves inside you” </p><p> </p><p>“I don’t know what it’s like to lose a husband I’ll admit that” Cinder started “But if I ever did lose Kai I wouldn’t become a tyrant. I wouldn’t become a ruler that everyone hated or feared. That isn’t what I am now even with everything I’ve gone through, and do you know what I’ve gone through” </p><p> </p><p>Adri didn’t answer, so Cinder continued “At the age of sixteen I was told that I was a lost princess from a different planet and was the only hope of removing a despot from the throne <em> I  </em>was supposed to be sitting on. To make it worse, that certain despot was my aunt that had tried to burn me alive as an infant so she could be queen. After that it only really got worse. I tried to kill my aunt, which resulted in having me thrown in jail. I became a fugitive and had to live on a stolen spaceship for weeks. And because I was the only one that could remove my aunt from the throne, she waged war on Earth and murdered thousands trying to find me. I had to kidnap my now husband to avoid more people from being murdered by her and, in the midst of all this, I <em> tortured </em>someone into insanity, which only added on to the count of people I’d killed at that point” </p><p> </p><p>Adri was looking at Cinder in shocked silence, she hadn’t known anything of what Cinder was telling her. Cinder didn’t pause “Then I went to the kingdom that should’ve been mine and there: my aunts minions killed the mother of one of my best friends leading to my arrest. In lock up my aunt purposely infected two of my other best friends with a plague there was no cure to at the time and she married my boyfriend. When I was allowed to have my trial, she deemed my sentence to be disfigurement, but having an army to lead and a revolution to start, I jumped off a ledge and plummeted into the depths of a lake that made my foot and hand stop working. Ending up okay, I led an army to kill my only remaining family and I had to watch as my friends got stabbed and beat up by my aunt's hand. To end things, I made her kill herself, but not before she stabbed me and put me in a three day coma” </p><p> </p><p>Adri would’ve been crying if she’d cared for Cinder, but instead she was shocked still. Cinder stopped talking for a moment to let the deepness of her words sink in. </p><p> </p><p>“Despite all that do you know what I am known as?” Cinder asked, when Adri didn’t speak, Cinder answered “I am known as the queen that ended a tyrannical rule in Luna. I am known as the queen that ended years of hostility between Earth and Luna. I am known as the queen that protected posterity from enduring the hardships a monarchy can bring. I am known as the empress and the best mechanic of New Beijing. And despite all I dealt with, I am not feared or hated. Because I didn’t use the excuse of my hardships to become a bad person. Because experiences don’t justify your bad actions” </p><p> </p><p>The room was silent when Cinder finished talking. Adri hadn’t known what Cinder had been through in the time she was regarded as a fugitive. She certainly hadn’t expected all that to have happened. </p><p> </p><p>“I know I hurt you” Adri said slowly and quietly “And I wanted to come here to tell you that I really am sorry” </p><p> </p><p>Cinder took a breath “I want to forgive you Adri, but I can’t. Everything that happened… It’s too much”</p><p> </p><p>Adri sighed and nodded, accepting of Cinder’s choice. Cinder felt a weight lifted from her shoulders; Adri recognized the wrongness of her treatment of Cinder. </p><p> </p><p>“I do want you to know that I don’t hate you” Cinder spoke again. It may have been a little out of the blue but it was something true and she needed to say “I can’t forgive you, but I let go of my anger a long time ago” </p><p> </p><p>Adri actually smiled  “You’re a good person Cinder. Take care” </p><p> </p><p>And with that, Linh Adri exited Cinder’s bedroom, leaving her weightless. She’d needed to say what she’d said for a long time, even if she hadn’t known it.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I didn't like Adri getting what she wanted at the end of Winter (I applaud Cinder for not being resentful, that's who I want to become), so I wrote this to signal that Adri was kinda being better so I could justify her getting what she wanted. Does that make sense? I also wrote this because, abuse survivors you don't have an obligation to forgive your abuser. Do what is best for you, don't do anything out of duty or politeness. Forgiveness doesn't mean reconnection. Stay safe everyone and wash your hands.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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